I haven't worked on bar prep for a couple of years, but I speak to many colleagues at other law schools who spend most of their summer working with alumni on preparing for the bar exam.This is a short list of recommendations based on what I have heard from colleagues and my own experience preparing students for the bar exam:

1) Never take the bar exam "for practice"

Look at the bar exam for what it is--THE bar exam. Students who worry about anxiety getting in the way of performance sometimes tell themselves they will take it once "for practice" to become acquainted with the exam. However, this can lead them to sloppy study techniques. I hope this attitude becomes more rare with the changes in the economy. Students do themselves a disservice when they try to alleviate anxiety by telling themselves they can take it again, because it removes ALL the pressure. Some pressure to perform is good, because it focuses study. There is a middle ground between paralyzing anxiety and dismissing the exam as practice. Students should focus on that middle ground.

2) Don't let practice tests scare you--let them guide your study

Early practice exams frequently come back marked up with significant suggestions. Students need to realize that they have time to fix the errors. Making mistakes in May and June does NOT mean they are not ready to take the bar exam. It usually means they need more focused practice on the areas that are difficult for them. Don't let students give up if they are struggling.

3) Practice your writing under timed conditions

Some students will take practice exams without the time constraints to test how much they know. This is a mistake because it gives them a false sense of confidence. It does not help a student if they know all the law, but it takes them too long to recall it. Knowledge of the law is critical, but being able to recall the law accurately while under pressure is essential to bar exam success.

4) Stay away from gimmicks

Oh, the gimmicks. There are too many to list. Students hear all about how to "game" the test, strategies to do well on one part and ignore another, or spend disproportionate amounts of time on some area of the law. I am not talking about smart studying based on examination of long-term trends on the exam, which is valid and helpful. I am referring to the word-of-mouth, unsubstantiated gimmicks that students hear about from people who took the bar decades ago, or from friends-of-friends-of-friends. These gimmicks almost always lead to problems. Studying for the bar exam is, for the most part, straightforward. Students need to know the law. Students need to be able to perform under timed conditions.

5) Don't over-study and burn out before the exam

Another tactic of students with exam anxiety is to study 12-14 hours a day, every day, and plan to keep up that schedule for over two months. It is not realistic that your mind or body can maintain that type of schedule. Focused, meaningful study, with breaks and time to enjoy life, is the path the success. It's all about balance. Overstudying means that by the time the exam comes, students won't have the stamina necessary for a 2-3 day test.

6) Don't beat yourself up over minor slip-ups in bar prep

Just like in life, stuff happens. You get sick. You just have a bad couple of days when you can't focus. Your car breaks down and you spend all day waiting for the mechanic to tell you what is wrong. While a bar prep schedule is critical, be sure that the study plan is flexible enough to accommodate life. If something throws the bar prep schedule off course, just get back to the schedule and plan to make up what was missed a little bit at a time, until it's all covered.

7) Don't talk to anyone about the exam during breaks or after it is finished

It is tempting for students on exam day to rehash what was difficult. DON'T LET THEM DO IT! It will freak them out and make them think they failed the exam. What is done is done. There is no point in rehashing the exam, because it leads to unnecessary anxiety.

We have all heard it announced during law school orientation programs that law school is not like any other educational experience. We have all heard someone (or multiple people) tell the new students that it will be harder than anything they have done in prior education, that they will need to work harder than ever before, and much more.

There seem to be several reactions to these types of statements. Some students over-react by becoming very anxious, doubting their ability to succeed, and working themselves to the point of exhaustion. Some students under-react by assuming that the warnings only apply to everyone else in the room. Some students take the warnings to heart, react appropriately by learning the differences, and seek ways to study effectively for law school.

I think warning statements during orientation programs are ineffective with many students because the warnings do not include information on why law school is so different and why they will need to work harder. Without more information students are considering the statements in a vacuum.

Most new first-year students do not realize some of the items in the following list. They might be more likely to heed warnings about their upcoming experience with this information available.

Active learning is required instead of passive learning. Many incoming law students have come from educational environments that did not encourage them to be engaged learners. They attended lectures delineating everything that would be on the exam, and they were merely expected to regurgitate it for an A grade. Textbooks included all of the material for the course with little need for critical thinking or synthesis. Few writing assignments were long enough to require students to go beyond the obvious.

One grade is the norm rather than multiple grades in a course. Most college courses provided for multiple test or assignment grades. Grades addressed smaller chunks of material within the course rather than being comprehensive. With grades addressing manageable chunks, it was possible to cram for a few days before an exam or start an assignment right before the due date and still get a high grade. However, when one final exam grade covers 15 weeks of material, cramming no longer works. A paper that is expected to meet a legal standard of excellence cannot be written right before it is due. In addition, the anxiety level of the student increases because so much rides on the exam or paper.

"It depends" is the response rather than finding the right answer to a question. Many undergraduates study disciplines that have a correct answer as the goal. The easy cases in law never get to court. Law students are often surprised by the "it depends" nature of the law. They become frustrated with arguing both sides, looking for nuances in the law, and being uncertain of a final right outcome. In the very different world of legal analysis, they become disoriented and discouraged without the security of the "right answer" to comfort them.

Professors expect them to learn the basics before class and continue to analyze material after class. Many professors give guidance the first couple of weeks so that students learn how to read and brief cases for their particular courses. After that initial period, however, students are expected to analyze the cases and understand the basics before class. Professsors then begin to focus class time on more advanced discussion of the cases, the nuances in the law, and increasingly difficult hypotheticals. It is not uncommon for them to walk out of class without the answers to the hypotheticals discussed. Students may not be accustomed to having responsibility for learning material on their own. Many of them have only had to learn what was directly taught to them during all-encompassing lectures.

Learning the law is only the beginning and not the end of the process. Many first-year students misunderstand the place of black letter law in legal analysis. They think that memorizing the law will by itself give them an A grade. They do not understand that they must know the law, but then will need to be able to apply it to new facts on the exam. They must be able to issue spot, state the law, apply it to the facts through arguing for both parties, appropriately use policy, and draw conclusions. The application or analysis will give them the bulk of the points that they need.

Law school requires many more hours of studying outside of class. Many new law students only studied 10 - 20 hours per week outside of class during their undergraduate studies. They do not understand that law school will take far more hours if they want to get their best grades. 50 to 55 hours per week outside of class is typically required for A and B grades at most law schools. Many new students think reading and briefing are all they have to do regularly in addition to any legal writing assignments. They do not understand the necessity for regular outlining and review for exams. They think a few practice questions near the end will suffice.

If new law students can absorb these differences and truly understand them early in their studies, they will have greater incentive to take the warnings to heart. By learning how to study efficiently and effectively from the start, they can excel in law school with less stress. Unfortunately, many students will not take advantage of the services through their academic support offices and instead depend on past study habits or bad advice from upper-division students. The differences between law school and undergraduate education can be overcome most easily if new 1L students seek advice from the academic support professionals either individually or through workshops, podcasts, and other methods of dissemination of information at their law schools. (Amy Jarmon)